Method of manufacturing bottle-closures.



No. 792,284. PATENTED JUNE 13, 1905. W. PAINTER.

METHOD 0F MANUFACTURING BOTTLE CLOSURES.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 6, 1902.

I I I UNITED STATES Patented June 13, 1905.

PATENT OEErcE.

vWILLIAM PAINTER, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, ASSIGNOR 'I`O THE CROWN CORK AND SEAL COMPANY, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, A CORPORATION OF MARYLAND.

NIETHOD OF MANUFACTURING BOTTLE-CLOSURES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 792,284, dated June 13, 1905.

Application filed June 6, 1902. Serial No. 110,535.

Be it known that I, WILLIAM PAINTER, of the city of Baltimore, in the State of Maryland, have invented a certain new and useful Method or Process of Manufacturing Bottle- Closures, of which the following is a specification, taking in connection therewith the accompanying' drawings, intended to contribute to a proper disclosure of my invention.

My present invention 'specially relates to the manufacture of such bottle-closures as are semimetallic and are accurately described (and classed) as crown cork sealing-caps7 or "closures, the same having been devised by me and originally disclosed in United States Letters Patent Nos. 468,226, 468,258, and 468,259, issued to me February 2, 1892.

l/Vliile I am well aware that my invention, broadly considered, will afford substantial value in all operations wherein it is now or hereafter may prove to be specially desirable to ad hesively unite any compressible and semiresilient material to metallic surfaces, I have developed said invention only in the manufacture of said semimetallic gastight bottleclosures, and hence I will confine this specification to a description of operations in that special art and duly restrict my claims thereto.

The principal objects sought through my present invention are to enable the production of bottle-closures of the aforesaid class in such a manner as will practically assure reliable results in bottling under gaseous pressure; also, to prevent bottled liquids from taint by contact with the metal of the cap and the incident corrosion of the metal; also, to assure a reliable union of the caps with the coperating sealing or packing disks or gaskets therein, whether said packings or gaskets be in the form of disks or annular and whether composed of cork or any suitable substitute therefor, and also to enable the production of such closures with uniformity in greater perfection and with greater facility and at a cost substantially below that involved in any prior method practiced by or known to me.

Broadly stated, my novel method or process consists, first, in interposing'a suitable fusible protecting and binding medium between the packing or sealing disks or gaskets and the coincident inner surfaces of the metal cooperating therewith and of which the crown-caps are composed; secondly, while the caps, disks, and fusible binding medium are properly heated for fusing said medium subjecting' the whole to appropriate pressure, and, thirdly, while still heated and the packing held under controlling pressure hardening the binding medium or permitting it to harden by cooling it, the disk, and cap. Inasmuch as the sl`ow cooling of these parts precludes many of the valuable economic advantages accruing from hardening the fused medium as promptly as possible, one feature of my invention consists (in this final step) in subjecting the cap, disk, and fused binding medium to artificial cooling influences for promptly cooling them while under controlling pressure.

Referring to the drawings, Figure l illustrates the surface of a piece of sheet metal, to one portion of which the binding and protecting medium has been applied as a surface coating, another portion having said medium applied thereto in circular spots. Fig. 2, in side and edge views, illustrates a paper collet charged with said binding and protecting medium. Fig. 3,in side and edge views, illustrates a packing-disk. Fig. 4, in side view, illustrates a raceway in which the caps,` disks, and binding medium are suitably compacted, maintained under pressure, heated, and cooled, all during a progressive movement. Fig. 5 is a cross-section of the compressing end or part of the raceway on line w with a cap, disk, and presser-block in section, as when entering the raceway. Fig. 6 is a similar cross-section of the pressure-maintaining portion of the raceway on line y g/ and showing a cap and disk in section over the heater. Fig. 7 is a side view of one of the presser-blocks; and Fig. 8 illustrates in edge view, partly in section, a finished bottle-sealing closure.

In the clause broadly describing the first step in my method or process I have employed the word interposing, meaning thereby that it is immaterial for the purposes of this invention in what manner the fusible protecting and adhesive medium is or may be applied or interposed between the packing-disks and the metallic surfaces where it is to perform its intended functions- -as, for instance, I have applied said medium to the sheets of tin from which metal is initially cut and formed into caps, so that their interior surfaces are thereby well and properly coated. I have also applied the medium to such sheets in circular spots at those points at which the initial euts are to be made; also applied the said medium to the interior of formed caps; also interposed paper collets well charged with the medium; also applied said medium to the inner or rear surfaces of the cork disks, gaskets, or packing. In these so far recited interpositions said medium has been in the form of solution well dried after application. Outside of solutions I have further applied said medium in a pulverulent form, dusted upon the interior surfaces of the caps, which are then ready to receive their sealing-gaskets, and, still further, said medium in the form of a film cut in circular or other shapes and interposed between the metal surfaces and the gaskets. It will now be evident that whether the caps are born (as indicated) with the fusible protecting and adhesive medium therein or said medium be afterward applied and so that it may perform its com plex functions the first step in my method or process will be involved in the appropriate assemblage of the caps, fusible medium, and sealing disks or gaskets. The best results thus far attained by me have accrued from the use of gum-shellac in alcoholic solution, it being understood that one, two, or more of the statedinterpositions may be employed, according to the exigencies involved as, for instance, the greater the corrosive tendency of a bottled liquid the greater the need for extra protection of the interior surface of the capas against possible contact of such liquid, and the same or similar extra protection should be provided for liquids containing a high percentage of alcohol, which is a solvent of the preferred protecting medium. Special protection will be effective, for instance, by a direct coating on the metal, and in addition by way of the collet, and even still further with the coating on the disk or packing. The variations in quantity of the protecting medium thus interposed call for proportionate care in the application of the fusing heat during the second step of the process, as will be hereinafter more fully indicated.

)teferring now to the drawings, in Fig. l a piece of sheet metal A is shown with one portion e thereof having its surface wholly coated with the protecting medium, and at another portion thereof, as at said medium is applied (as shown on a small scale) only in circular spots 7: f, &c., these being of proper size and appropriately located to enable the desired metalliccaps (such as shown in Fig.

I S) to be cut and formed from the metal so As between these two applications coated. of such medium there is involved an economy in favor of the spots in avoidance of waste in the coating' which goes with the waste metal when the sheet is wholly coated; but in both eases not only is the inner top surface of the cap coated, but also the inner surface of its fiange. The paper collet B of Fig. 2 is not only usually filled or charged with said medium, but it may be and is sometimes coated on both of its faces 52 L2. The packing-disk C of Fig. 3 has when needed its inner face f coated with said medium.

I am aware that for the technical requirements of this specification there need be mentioned only a single type of suitable fusible protecting and binding medium; but with a view to an appropriate guidance to persons skilled in gas-tight bottle-closures and in the art of bottling I deem it proper to state that during my extended experience in this art I have used such gums as copal, sandarac, dammar, kauri, &c. I have, however, found no gum so reliably free from objectionable odor and taste and so safely worked in fusing as gum-shellac applied in alcoholic solution, although I [ind a close rival therewith in the best :forms of Egyptian asphaltuin in aromatic benzol solution.

Having proceeded as thus far described the assembled disks, caps, and. binding Inedium, with or without the collets, are compressed and heat applied to the exterior surface of each cap in accordance with the second step in my process. The degree of compression may be varied according to specific requirements-was, for instance, pressure being always applied against the exposed or working face of the disk it should always be sufiicient to cause the disk to closely conform to the sectional contour of the top of the cap and usually caused to lie snugly against the flange thereof. If the disks be of sliced cork (as distinguished from cork compound) and previously compressed for crushing hard spots therein, the pressure of this step need only be as already indicated; but if said disks should require crushing after the assemblage described then a heavier pressure would be appropriate. Such heavy pressure having been applied, it might or might not be further maintained, provided enough compression be continued to secure the effect of the lighter pressure, as hereinbefore indicated. 'Ihe so assembled and compressed parts being then exposed to heat, it is immaterial in this step how the heat may be afforded or applied, provided a fairly perfect control of temperature is involved or an equivalent control of the time of exposure thereto. If unduly heated or for too long a time, the fusible medium may be caused to boil and to IOO IIO

exude toward the working face of the disk, as when much of said medium is employed, or with lesser quantity thereof to burn or coke it, and so render it useless, with a further liability of injury to the disks, and especially if the latter be of a composite type containing fusible material. I have employed with good results an electric heating-table -which can be quite evenly maintained at a given temperature and upon which the closures may rest and be moved, the time or duration of exposure being relied upon for gaging as to safety. The simplest, safest, and most effective heating has, however, been attained by me by the use of suitable smokeless gas-flames, which being' readily gaged as to volume enable an accurate and safe determination as to required time for exposure appropriate to the fusible medium, as well as the packing-disk, according to kind and quantity of fusible matter and variety of disk in each lot of closures. It will be obvious that in proceeding with this second step of my process it will be immaterial as to whether or not the heating and compression be initially simultaneous-as, for instance, the heating could be (and has been by me) begun before pressure was applied to the disks without materially affecting the results sought-although I deem it preferable to have pressure slightly precede the heating for better enabling the proper seating of the disks in the caps. During the compression of the disk the fiange of the cap may be simultaneously slightly forced inwardly against the edge of the disk, as has been practiced by me; but it is to be understood that my present invention does not depend upon any accompanying mechanical action upon the cap-flange.

As herein before indicated, the third or final step in my process involves, essentially, the hardening of the fusible medium while it, the packing-disk, and the cap are maintained under the appropriate pressure of the second step, and I will now refer to the drawings and describe the simple appliances selected for illustrating the operations involved in said second and third steps.

In Fig. 4 that which I have herein termed a raceway7 embodies two foot-rails I) and D in the same horizontal plane and separated by a space somewhat less than the least diameter of the caps to be supported thereon with tops downward. Above said rails is an overlying headplate E, symmetrically grooved at its underside centrally and longitudinally and in line with the center line of the space between the foot-rails. The rails are coupled and braced at intervals by underlying bow-shaped tie-braces d, and the head-plate is supported by and coupled to the foot-rails by vertical outwardly-curved posts or ties Z/ d. This head-plate E is horizontal and parallel with the rails except at its ends, both of which are inclined upwardly, the end at e being the entrance to the raceway. The groove e in the under side of the head-plate is concave in crosssection, as clearly indicated in Figs. 5 and 6. Beneath a portion of the raceway, near its entrance, is a suitable gas-burner F, controlled by a suitable cock f, and beneath another portion, beyond the gas-burner, is an air-chamber G, provided with a series of small vertical jet-pipes g, through which air is delivered upwardly after having been previously compressed and cooled by well-known means, which it is deemed unnecessary for the purposes of this specification to show or particularly describe. The delivery of the air through the jet-pipes is controlled by a cock g'. With this raceway a set of press-blocks H (in a desirable form) are employed, each having a globular head lt, (for properly occupying and sliding in the groove c',) a circular base L, (about as large as a packing-disk,) an enlarged contact-rim h2, and a groove 7a3 between said rim and base, as shown in Figs. 5, 6, and 7. The height of each of these blocks H is so proportioned that when placed upon a disk packing C, within a metal cap I, the whole will freely enter the raceway at the entrance e, as shown in section in Fig. 5, and so that when the block, cap, and disk are moved together inwardly (as by pushing pressure at or near the groove 71.3) the inclined plane of the head-plate will cause the compression of the packing to a desired or proper degree upon the entrance of the parts to the straight or pressure-maintaining portion of the raceway, as indicated in the sectional view F ig. 6, where the heat from the burner is applied to the adjacent surface of the top of the cap. If, then, a second block, disk, and cap be entered and forced along into the raoeway, the first will be moved before it, as by contact of the rims of the blocks (or be separately pushed along, as by a forked rod applied at the groove) until said first cap will overlie the coolingjets g, at which the escaping air, by prompt expansion, will afford a low temperature, and so on, it being' understood that after passing the air-jets the finished closures and blocks drop freely from the raceway because of its vertically-enlarged exit. It should be also understood that in proportion to the speed at which the raceway is supplied with caps, Sac., either the longitudinal areas of the heating and cooling appliances or their respective capacities should be varied, so that however rapid the movement of the caps may be the heating and the cooling capacities should be such as to surely and safely heat and then to effectually cool the heated parts and harden the fusible medium before release from pressure occurs, and as those capacities are controllable they may be gag'ed to the limits which experience in working would show to be needed with each lot of caps. Now, referring back to the second step, it will be seen that it terminates with the release of the cap, &c., from the fusing operation at the heater lOO and that if the raceway was long enough (and there were no air-jets) the caps and blocks could be moved along (as others entered) and so kept under pressure until sufficient time had elapsed for the prevailing temperature of an average factory to assist in cooling of the cap and disk and hardening thefused medium. It will, however, be obvious that with the variable temperature of a room, as well as of the variations in exterior normal temperature, there would be corresponding'variations in time required for perfecting the operation and also that with the long raceway suggested a large number of press-blocks would be required. However slowly the hardening of the fused medium may be accomplished, if it be done under the controlling pressure indicated valuable results will accrue; but many of the important objects of my invention can only be secured by hardening the fusible medium by the exposure of the assembled heated parts under pressure to artificial cooling influences, and hence an appropriate clause of claim will be presented for securing that portion of my invention. The packing-disks necessarily become heated and being slow to absorb heat are equally slow in releasing it, and the disks are liable to be injured from undue heating. As heat can only be applied to the fusible material and the disk by way of the metal cap, it follows that radiation of heat in cooling' the medium, the disk, and cap must be mainly backward through the metal. The compressed disk and the imposed press-block afford little or no path for the escape of heat in that direction, and if the disk be released from pressure while still hot the controlling effect of the binding medium could not be assured, and a hot disk in seeking to assert its natural resiliency after compression could not be so thoroughly under control as when the disk, cap, and the interposed medium are all well cooled under appropriate pressure.

Various artificial cooling iniiuences may be employed without departure from my invention-as, for instance, a cooling-table containing a refrigerant, as the opposite of the electric heating-table hereinbefore referred to, or by inclosing a considerable portion of a raceway within a conduit jacketed for the circulation of a refrigerant or cooling medium; but the most convenient, reliable, and readilycontrollable cooling influence known to me is afforded by the jets of compressed air. The objects sought by me by the employment of artificial means for coolingI the assembled parts and hardening the fusible medium are to accelerate production; to secure practical uniformity in the finished product; a complete iixing or setting of the packing-disk in the form or condition induced by heat and pressure; to enable heat to be applied safely upto the last second of requirement, and then to end it abruptly, thus obviatingliability of injury to the disk and of boiling, overheating,

and ruining the fusible medium; to assure a prompt contraction of the metal cap (after eX- pansion by heat) before the packing is cooled and the fusible medium hardened; to reduce the number of press-blocks or equivalent pressing factors to a minimum, and to render it possible for the second and third steps of the process (including also the assemblage of disks and caps) to be rapidly and perfectly executed by compactautomatic mechanical organizations, because the heatingI and the cooling operations being each accurately controllable as to time each can be readily gaged for cooperation with mechanism which can be operated at any given speed consistent with the various requiren'ients.

For indicating the status of my present invention as to novelty l will state that so far as my knowledge extends the nearest approaches thereto are to be found in disclosures made by me in my hereinbefore-mentioned Letters Patent No. 468.226, dated February 2, 1892. In my present operations the packing-disks are thicker than those indicated in said patent, as a precautionary measure of safety, and lV employ therewith as a rule apaper collet as a suitable substitute reinforce for the thin fabric reinforce disclosed in my Letters Patent No. 468,259, the same having also been used by me as an effective form of the protecting-film described in said Patent No. 468,226, when said collet is charged with the fusible medium, as herein be fore indicated. In said Patent No. t68,226 vl also disclosed the use of the fusible protecting adhesive medium, such as shellac and Egyptian asphaltum, and also the compression of cork disks after application of heat for fusing said medium. Up to the time of making my present invention, however, the pressure has been promptly removed from the disks after they were compressed in the cap upon the shellac, and thereafter heated, and hence during the cooling of the cap and disk and the hardening of the shellac, even with thin disks, there was no such full control of the mass as would or could insure those desirable and valuable results in the finished product as are secured by maintaining the parts under pressure while heated and until they are cooled as in accordance with my present invention.

Having thus described my invention, l claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patentl. In the manufacture of gas-tight bottleclosures composed in part of metal, the method or process which consists; first, in interposing a suitable fusible protecting and binding medium between the packing or sealing gasket and the coincident surfaces of the metal cooperating therewith; secondly, heatingtbe metal, the gasket and the binding' medium 'for properly fusing` the latter, and in the meantime subjecting the whole to appropriate pressure; and thirdly, cooling the metal and avoiding injury to the gasket from undue heating IOO IIO

and hardening the fusible medium while maintaining said appropriate pressure, substantially as and for the purposes specified.

2. In the manufacture of semimetallic gastight bottle-closures, the method or process which consists: first, in interposing a suitable fusible medium between the packing or sealing gasket and the coincident surfaces of the metal coperating therewith; secondly, heating the whole and properly fusing said v medium, and in the meantime subjecting the whole to appropriate pressure; and thirdly, while still maintaining said pressure, promptly cooling the metal and avoiding injury to the gasket and hardening the fusible medium by artificial cooling influences, substantially as and for the purposes specified.

3. In the manufacture of semimetallic gastight bottle-closures, the method or process WILLIAM PAINTER.

Witnesses:

C. E. TEALE, GEO. E. TAYLOR. 

